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Good news and bad news for Imax Corporation
On the heels of the good news that Star Trek had the best
opening weekend of any IMAX DMR film on record, an online furor arose when the
star of a new NBC sitcom slammed Imax Corporation and AMC Theaters for what he
called "fake IMAX," i.e., IMAX digital theaters. The controversy erupted on the day before
Imax hosted an analyst and investor day in New York.
Paramount Pictures' Star Trek, the 11th movie in the popular franchise, opened last Thursday on nearly
150 IMAX and 7,250 other screens. Earning $79.2 million in domestic box
office, $8.5 million of which came from the IMAX theaters, it was the biggest
opening weekend for an IMAX release, topping the $6.3 million taken in by The
Dark Knight in July 2008. A large part of the increase was due to the addition
of 74 IMAX digital theaters to the worldwide circuit, and it was this fact that
led to Imax's bad news for the week.
On Tuesday, actor and comedian Aziz Ansari, star of NBC's Parks and Recreation, posted angry entries on Twitter (where he
is followed by 25,000 fans) and on his blog, blasting Imax and AMC for the fact
that the Burbank, CA, theater in which he saw Star Trek had only a "slightly bigger
than normal screen and NOT the usual standard huge 72 ft IMAX screen." His
rant, which urged a boycott of Imax, AMC, and Regal Entertainment Group, was
quickly picked up and amplified by dozens of other bloggers and online outlets,
virtually all of whom agreed with Ansari's criticism of the smaller IMAX digital
theaters.
Aziz and most of the other sites linked to LF Examiner's October 2008 editorial on the digital system, and many joined LFX in urging Imax to rebrand the digital
screens so that customers would know what they are getting before going into
the theater.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, at the
meeting with investors, Imax CEO Richard Gelfond and other executives "worked
hard Wednesday to repair the damage done" by Ansari's charges and "spent the better
part of the morning...trumpeting how the 'Imax experience' is more immersive than
traditional cinema-going, rather than woo investors with their usual pep talk
about how the current digital projection and joint-venture theater rollout will
restore profitability this year."
The May issue of LF Examiner will have full reports on both
of these stories. |
Sincerely,
James Hyder Editor/Publisher |
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